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Where's the digital innovation in Automotive?

Where's the digital marketing innovation in the Automotive Industry in New Zealand?

The economy is going well cars are selling however because of this there is a tendency in the industry to be on cruise control when it comes to true innovation and digital.

Has the gap closed in terms of knowledge and use of digital marketing in automotive in New Zealand compared to other advanced markets throughout the world like USA no it has not if anything the gap is larger.

When people are buying cars regardless there is less appetite to innovate in terms of how we market as dealers to our customers.

It also doesn't help that a lot of the resources are going to places that don't innovate much (third party listing sites for example) rather than those with the industry's best interests at heart.

There is also a tendency for suppliers to monopolize in NZ there are really only 2 or 3 anyhow you don't see many automotive specific providers rushing to enter the NZ Market.

So what you are seeing is the lack of a need to innovate for dealers. Things like re-marketing have been around for a long time and should have been utilized by dealers for years.

I have a lot of ideas for innovation however I don't have the resources to progress much of them. So I keep them to myself. But I would much rather prefer putting ideas to market for the benefit of the car industry.

The auto industry is one of the few industry's in New Zealand that doesn't back itself with its own large scale efforts online.

Further more overseas they see digital marketing in all areas as a key part of dealership operations. They see it as a way of doing business (Albeit the main way of doing business in 2017) so have key roles inside the day to day operation of the dealership like Internet Sales Director. So its not a backroom role its a key front line part inside dealership operations and working automotive industry knowledge and skill is key. Its not just marketing knowledge but actual vehicle sales knowledge, Parts and service knowledge. Real world selling online Not a separated function from dealership operations for entry level people. (Nothing against entry level people but it should be given appropriate priority in relation to what it means to the dealership)

There will come a time when the market changes again and there will be a need to innovate again however I don't see why we shouldn't innovate now especially while the market is going well.

Digital needs the resources and to be made a real priority inside dealerships as a key part of operations that is not really happening in NZ. This may seem a slightly glum assessment yes it is in a way but what I want to do is spur further progress for the industry and dealers.